


After The Games

by willowthevalkryie (orphan_account)



Category: Divergent Series - Veronica Roth, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 07:26:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18278564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/willowthevalkryie
Summary: Katniss and Peeta are finished with the games, they’re married, but was volunteering to be Dauntless in District 5’s Chicago expirement the best desicion after all the trauma in their lives? Nevertheless, they make new friends in the Dauntless faction, like Tobias Eaton, who volunteered along with them to be planted back into the city. So why did they volunteer? Why did they choose to be under direct watch of the President? Most importantly, why are they carrying on the legacy of Tris Prior, a girl they never knew?





	After The Games

“Peeta!!” She ran towards him, an arm outstretched. Bow… bow… she thought with all her might. Why wouldn’t her arm go down? Why couldn’t she save him? The mist enveloped him. He cried out in terror. “No!!” She sobbed, though she struggled to keep her mouth open. Again, she tried to reach for her bow. Her arm still hovered in the air. But her bow was so close. So close. 

Then she heard the all too familiar sound of wolves. With them howling in the distance, she could see the eyes of Rue, of Foxface, staring at her with vengeance and terror and fear, their fangs bared. She saw Kato, his blood, his body in so many pieces the helicopter could barely pick him up. 

She gulped. She had to make a choice. She knew this wasn’t real. That it was only a simulation, that she had been placed into this sick society to bring peace to Panem. She breathed deeply, and just as she heard Peeta’s last scream, and just as the eyes of the wolves stared angrily down at her, digging deep into her soul, she closed her eyes. 

All the sound faded, the anger and fear inside of her subsided. And she was back in the room, strapped to the chair, with a man standing over her, watching her like a hawk. 

“Well done.” He chided, taking off the straps. “You did well.” He nodded. “Too well.” He muttered under his breath. “Well.” He looked at the screen. “You’re records say that you’re Dauntless for sure. Not manually entered—“ he paused, thinking. “No, no.” He shrugged. 

“What?” Katniss inquired. 

“Nothing, nothing.” The man assured her. As he was Dauntless, he had dozens of tattoos covering his neck. “You’re good to go. And I know you’ve had many of these in your lifetime—“ 

Ah, yes. All these Dauntless had had their memories plugged in with Katniss and Peeta, including the fact that Katniss was Abnegation-born and Peeta was Candor, But they had both become Dauntless together, in the same initiate group. 

Of course, none of that was true. These tests, the one they were in happening to be in the spark of the flame, a place that was once called Chicago, was all in district 5, where, according to the new president, it was essential for creating a new, genetically perfect human race. 

Of course, it had gone wrong. So Katniss and Peeta Mellark had decided to volunteer. Together. The Bureau of Genetic Warfare of District Five had made sure their identities were distributed carefully into different people in the corresponding factions. They even had fake families. 

And yes, of course, Katniss still saw her mother from time to time. Ever since Primrose’s death, her mother had been uneasy. So the Bureau had let her stay in their quarters, where she would be well taken care of and she could be visited by her daughter every so often. 

Katniss nodded. “Yes.” 

“The fear landscape isn’t easy to overcome, but I’d say your experience has hardened you up. You went through so fast.” 

Katniss nodded again, relieved that they didn’t know she was genetically pure, or as they called it, Divergent. If they knew, they would hunt her and Peeta down. And she had been hunted too many times in her life. “So… this is the last one?” She wondered. Truthfully, she had only been through the fear landscape twice before. And every time, memories of her experiences in the Hunger Games flashed before her eyes. She was sure Peeta saw them too. 

“Yep. You won’t have to worry about these—“ the man patted the small black box holding the serums that enveloped her in her darkest fears. “anymore.” 

Katniss sucked in a breath. “Thank you.” She said, walking out of the room. The cold air cooled her lungs as she looked into the chasm below. She shoved her hands in her pockets and walked towards the cafeteria, where she found her husband, Peeta, sitting with some ‘friends’ of theirs. She sat next to them, flattening out her black t-shirt. 

“Katniss!” A Dauntless said happily. She knew him simply as Cade, but he knew her as the best friend he had gone through initiate training with. She smiled. 

“Hello, Cade.” 

“How was your last fear landscape?” Peeta said, clasping her hand in his.

“Good.” She nodded. She looked into his eyes, and she knew that he knew what she saw in those horrible simulations.  
“I’m glad.” He smiled, and she smiled back. 

“Well.” Cade said, shoving a cheeseburger into his mouth. “I think I’m up after that one.” He pointed to an older Dauntless, a tall, blond boy, who Katniss knew to be Four, or Tobias. He was also a member of the Divergent gene reproductive program, though his partner had died a long time ago. 

He rarely spoke about it. But Katniss had learned from her time at the Bureau that Tobias Eaton was one of the last initiates before the workers at the Bureau scheduled Chicago’s population release for thirty years from now. Yes, it was long. And yes, Katniss knew of his lover, the young girl, Tris Prior, who had died for the people of this city to be treated as equally as the people on the outside.

But that’s what she and Peeta were there for. They were there, to, as they gradually got older, present the problems in their society as inescapable, and as trusted leaders, in thirty years they would tell them. Tell all of them about the outside world, the Bureau, Tris Prior, and the history of the outside world, Panem. They would know about the Hunger Games, the late President Snow, and their current President. 

Katniss wouldn’t dare speak her name. The traitor. Manipulating the Mockingjay, just for publicity in order for her to reach her extent of “peace” all over the country. 

“Peeta,” She said. All these thoughts were making her sick. She pushed away her burger. “I’m not hungry.”

“Huh?” He looked at her, taking a bite out of his burger. His look of content quickly turned to concern. 

“You’re not acting like yourself today.” Cade said. “Are you alright, Katniss?”

She nodded. “I’m fine. I’m just a bit under the weather.” 

“Katniss… maybe you should rest.” Another ‘friend’, Amy, spoke softly. She was an Amity born, and it still showed. “I know you’ve always had a hard time with the fear landscapes…” 

Katniss leaned her head on Peeta’s shoulder. “Hey.” He said. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“No.” She mumbled so only he could hear. “I want to see my mother.”

“Oh!” John, a Candor born, exclaimed. “I could drive you to Abnegation. I just got my truck back.” 

“It’s fine.” Peeta said. He kissed Katniss’s dark hair. “You know what, guys? I think Katniss and I have to go.” 

“Okay…” Amy said, her voice full of concern. “I hope you feel better, Katniss...”

“Thanks.” Peeta said. He held Katniss’s shoulders. This is when it always hit her. When it all sunk in. The vividness of the memories… Rue’s eyes… staring from the blank, soulless fur… Katniss shivered and buried her face in Peeta’s chest. 

He was all she had left. Her mother was far away. Prim was dead. Rue was dead. Finnick. So many others that she couldn’t name. She sucked in a breath. “Peeta...” she breathed, sobbing into his shirt. 

“Come on.” He whispered. She heard the roar from chasm below as he held her in his arms. During lunch, no one was near the chasm. It was a good place to be alone. Except for the fact that another person was there. 

“Four.” Peeta said. Katniss sobbed only harder as images of Prim’s death in the simulations flashed through her mind. She might’ve known it wasn’t real, but that didn’t keep her from being afraid. 

“Hello.” Four’s voice was deep and gravelly. “Have you heard anything from the Bureau?” 

“No.” 

“Good.” 

“Good?” 

“The President doesn’t know.” His voice lowered. “About Tris.” 

“Oh.” Katniss heard the concern in her husband’s voice. “About the Bureau members…” he didn’t finish the sentence. All three of them knew about the Dauntless cameras that led to the Bureau of Genetic Warfare Of District Five. 

“Yes.” Four hesitated. “We still haven’t— buried her.” 

“You should.” Peeta said. “She was a hero.” 

Katniss rose. “Yes.” She agreed. “You should think of something she loved to do.” She knew how these worked. She had buried two little girls in her life. Four— Tobias— shouldn’t have had to either. But that’s how life worked, she guessed. The more you wish for something to go right, the more unlikely it is to for it to happen. But her and her mother and Peeta had scattered Prim— in district 12, her home. In the forest, near the place where Katniss had met the red-haired Avox. Prim never went there… but the flowers, blooming so bright… in a secluded part of the broken world where beauty was still intact… that reminded Katniss of her sister.

Prim wanted to fix the world. The best she could do for her was scatter her ashes in a place that was just a little broken. Where her ashes could fertilize the earth, where new flowers would grow from her ashes. Like a phoenix, Primroses has risen from the ground where her ashes were scattered. 

Katniss bit her lip. “Or… scatter her ashes somewhere she loved.” She said.

He nodded. It’s— almost been two years since she—“ he choked. Katniss had never seen him this vulnerable. “Since she died.” He paused. “You know… I’ll think about it. Maybe you guys could— come.” 

“It’s okay.” Peeta muttered. “We never knew her. You don’t need to—“

“It’s fine.” 

“Okay.” Peeta looked back at Katniss. “We have to get back to—“ 

“Sure.” Four said. “See you later.” Then he was gone. 

“Katniss.” Peeta wrapped his arms around her. “What happened this time?”

She told him. It’s a good thing that the steady roar of the river covered her sobs. She didn’t like being underestimated. And someone seeing you crying made you look vulnerable. And when people thing you’re vulnerable, they underestimate you. 

“Mine are almost the same.” Peeta muttered. “My family. I haven’t seen them since—“ 

“Since we left.” She whispered. 

“I keep seeing them… shivering in the cold, nothing to eat, starving without me.”

“But, Peeta, they have all of the Victor’s money.” 

“I know…” he shook his head. Katniss kissed his cheek. 

“Can we just go home?” She said, suddenly remembering the Bureau, watching them from the cameras surrounding the Pit. She shuddered, slipping her arm under Peeta’s. 

“Home.” He repeated, his eyes blank. 

She looked at him. “I love you, Peeta.” He smiled a little. Her heart jumped. 

“I love you, Katniss.”


End file.
